League of Communists of Yugoslavia

The League of Communists of Yugoslavia (SKJ) was a Marxist-Leninist/Titoist communist party that existed in Yugoslavia from 1952 to 1990, replacing the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. The SKJ was founded by Josip Broz Tito and the leaders of the former Yugoslav Partisans after the end of World War II, when Yugoslavia beceame a federation of socialist states. Tito led the party from 1952 to 1980, having led the Communist Party since 1937. The League of Communists replaced the Communist Party in 1952 after being expelled from the Comintern by the USSR, whose leader Joseph Stalin accused Tito of being a right-wing nationalist due to his opposition to being a puppet of the Soviet Union. The party purged its Stalinist elements and implemented workers' self-management, adopting an independent communist ideology known as Titoism. The party was the only legal party in Yugoslavia until January 1990, when the public confrontation between the Serbian and Slovenian party delegates at the SKJ Congress led to the party ceasing to be a national organization.